


Letters

by Scentsationalhands



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-15 16:41:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18077117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scentsationalhands/pseuds/Scentsationalhands
Summary: What if we could know what happened between 2019 and 2040- these letters give us a snapshot





	1. Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> So I dont like that will and Mia dont know each other in the future. I do like that the show lets us know that Oliver was trying to stay in touch, but I needed to explore why Will didn't know. These will be short snapshots to fill in what I think could have happened between 2019 and the flash forwards.
> 
> Written like flash fiction with no editor, I do not own the characters, just the mistakes.

Confessions

 

"Hey William, can I talk to you for a minute"

"Let me just finish this algarythym, it should trace Felicity" he called over his shoulder, still typing at Felicty's old computer in the bunker.

"We dont really need to talk, I just wanted to give you this. My dad made me promise to give it to you if I ever met you. He thought Mia might stop being stubborn and look you up at some point." He set the box next to William and started to walk away

"He would be wrong Connor, what is that" Mia asked as she walked in the room. She grabbed the box and opened it before Will even had a chance to blink, much less turn from what he was doing on the computer.

"Hey these are mom's letters, she was always writing letters but I never knew who they were too. I just remember thinking it was weird to see it. She looked so deep in thought when she would write, and she was so weird about them, I never actually saw her send them."

"Why would Mr Diggle want me to have them?" Will asked in confusion as wlhe swiveled in his chair toward Mia as she ruffulled through what looked like hundreds of letters.

"They are addressed to you. I guess you weren't the forgotten child afterall... just the one who got to live out in the open."

He grabbed the box, "let me see that." He ruffled through the first part of the box and pulled a few letters out, "she actually sent these, they are labeled 'return to sender,' and that's my grandma's handwriting. They were keeping these from me!"

"She didn't send them all, looks like the last one returned was from May 2022. But she kept writing, just, she started addressing them to you care of John Diggle. This is the first one, it's from before I was born, but after-"

"Give me that" Will interrupted as he snatched the letter from her hands. He ripped the letter open, he had to read it, had to know why she had been writing to him all those years ago.


	2. The first letter

September 12, 2019

Dear William,

Dear William, that's like dearest and that seems romantic, and obviously, weird. Maybe I should start over.

Hey buddy

No that doesn't work either, that's your dad's thing…

Ok, third times a charm.

William!

Hi. I'm hoping you will read this letter. Your dad and I both called, a lot. Your grandfather told us to stop calling the house, that you would call us when you were ready. 

From your voicemails you know we didn't stop. I'm not going to lie, I was equally impressed and hurt that you blocked our numbers from texting you though. I was going to hack through anyway, but your dad wouldn't let me. So to honor that promise I made him, I'm not hacking you now, just going low tech.

What happened with your dad, it was big news. I know it was on in Central City because Barry showed up here just as Caitlin and Cisco called to check on me. I guess you were right to go live with your grandparents, we couldn't have protected you, we couldn't even protect ourselves- guess being parents wasn't meant to be. Your dad really wanted to be a good dad…

Anyway, the reason for the snail mail. You didn't answer or call after the news of your dad. I called your grandparents, to give them some details for the funeral, they warned me that you had been to enough funerals in the last few years, but I was hoping to see you, at least hear your voice.  
I broke the promise to your dad and I may have peeked at your grades, checking in with the school is not hacking you or invading your privacy! I didn't know the school had a robotics class, but they do and you have the highest grade in the class! And you are doing so good in math. I was secretly hoping you would need my help… but I'm glad you are doing so well. School just started though, so if it does get harder, I'm only call or text away.

I had things I wanted to tell you in person. Explain why your dad did what he did… sacrificed himself for me. I feel so guilty but also so much responsibility to you and to your- to family. 

Please, please just let me know you are ok, give me a chance to talk to you, fill you in.

I'm underground again, ARGUS and, I included the contact info for John. Dig will get me any responses you send. And I have the encrypted phone number still set up from when you were in Boston. 

Even though I'm just your step mom, even though I guess technically there isn't a legal connection anymore with your dad gone… there is still a connection, an important one.

I love you William.

Felicity

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After reading the letter aloud Will just continued to stare at it. A slight smile on his lips, eyes watering, in complete shock and awe. He slightly collapsed his weight onto the desk he was leaning against, allowing his shoulders to slump as he felt so many things at once.

Suddenly he realized that he was wanted, that the chip on his shoulder was all a misunderstanding. He wasn't betrayed by his parents. But then it was also like a knife through the back as he thought of his grandparents. They changed his phone when he moved in with them. His old phone got ruined the day he moved to be with them. He fell asleep and when they arrived at the house his grandfather let him sleep in the car while he unloaded his stuff. When he woke up his phone was soaked and ruined. Grandma said it fell out of the car when they opened the door and landed in a puddle. They got him a new phone with a new number to be on their service plan, wrote down Oliver's number for him, but when called it said it was disconnected. He always thought Oliver cut him off at the first possible moment. That he was unwanted and unlovable. But his grandparents had done that to him, had destroyed him on purpose…

Mia sat in the chair Will had vacated, staring blankly at the screen in front of her. Once again jealous that Will had at least had parents, had known them. Angry that her father died before she was ever born. 

The heavy silence that had come over the lair was becoming unbearable. It seems they had forgotten that Roy and Conner were there, until Roy broke the tension and spoke up. "Blondie couldn't help herself from babbling even in a letter."

Both Mia and Will's heads snapped up and their twin glares went straight to Roy. Mia immeadiately in fight mode "who are you again, ARSENAL?" His code name come off her tongue like acid.

At the same time Will just huffed, "not helping Uncle Roy."

Which brought Mia's gaze back to Will. As she seemingly spoke to herself, a little under her breath. "UNCLE ROY, yeah, so the poor orphaned boy had parents, grandparents, and Aunts and Uncles- must have been lonely for you."

Will was about to speak when Roy beat him to the punch. "First of all, I haven't seen him since before you were born, secondly, I'm your Uncle too. After- nevermind, this isn't the time. We will leave you to figure this out, Conner, let's give them the room." He stood and walked out, grabbing Conner as he went.

Mia and Will stared at eachother a moment longer until Mia grabbed out the next letter and handed it to Will, "Keep reading."


	3. Nov 2019

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Mia continue reading, some wisdom gets shared by the old team members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going in a bit of a different direction. The newest episode and teasers for what's to come has me looking at this differently as I am trying to stay cannon compliant.

November 24, 2019

William,

I was hoping to have gotten to talk to you, hoping that the idea of me being so low tech would pique your interest enough to respond.

It didn't, obviously, but maybe a second one will. I've included a picture for you this time. I hate to burden you with more secrets, but I also couldn't keep this secret from you. Your dad never wanted his children to be secrets and he never got over missing so much of your life. And yes, I said children. This is your sister.

Mia Dearden Smoak

I went back to being Felicity Smoak. The company is up and running now, Smoak Technologies. I was actually able to take over Palmer Tech and and fire the whole board. I had been planning that since they fired me for not caring enough about the company when I was actually stopping Dahrk with your dad. They were blocking the sale of stock to me and your dad since is already owned so much, but they didn't realize that Helix Dynamics was my company. They also didn't know your Aunt Thea had so much stock in Roy's name, I still cant believe she willed it all to me. Curtis released all of Helix to me back in March, and I took over the Palmer building last week.  
I had never planned on being in hiding for long, but I expected it to be a little longer than this.  
Nobody knew about Mia, on the team I mean, no one knew except Dig and that's why your dad did what he did, and that's why Dig and Lyla put me in Argus care. 

I was helping find Dante and building this really cool security system that Argus bought. There were other things, but you dont need the details, at least not in writing… I'm not hiding from you though Will, if you want to know all you have to do is call. 

I think you would be a great big brother. Your Dad always loved watching you with JJ when the Diggles came for dinner… he wanted to see you as a big brother.

I'm sorry we never told you I was pregnant, I found out just after you left and your dad wanted to tell you in person. Really, he just wanted to tell you in a real conversation, not on a voicemail. 

I'm not announcing to the world that Mia was born, I'm going to try and keep her out of the limelight as long as possible, for her safety. It's the one thing that makes me glad you kept the Clayton name and are in Central City.

Barry saw you at a skate park. He said you can do a mean flipkick. I dont know what that is, but I'd love to see it. Team flash has been keeping an eye on you for us, for me now I guess, but I promise he wasn't following you or anything, he saw you when he was getting coffee and he kept his distance, just knew that I would feel better if I knew you were well. And I do.

And in all transparency, I will admit I am still checking your grades occasionally. Looks like you are on track to be valedictorian. I mean, I know you are only a freshman, but I see it. You are the top of every class, and taking advanced classes, I'm so proud of you.

I'll stop gushing. The whole point of this letter was not to embarrass you, just to introduce you to your sister.

In case your wondering, she was 6 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long. Born November 1st. She sleeps alot. 

Anyway, as always I hope to hear from you,

Felicity.

PS- Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah if I dont hear from you by then.

 

"What does she mean 'why he did what he did?' What did he do?"

"You dont know? I, I dont either, my grandparents, they didn't want me watching TV. They went so far as to get rid of it. I never kept up with Star City news even when I lived in the city. I never thought to track it for info about dad. I never realized my grandparents were hiding so much."

"What funeral? I thought dad must have faked his death or something the way she was talking in the first letter. And the Roy she mentioned- she means Arsenal right?"

"She does, maybe he knows more about this."

Mia huffed, "fine then." She continued in her snarky sarcastic tone, "Uncle Roy, I know you are still here spying and listening, you might as well come join us in our fun filled family reunion."

Roy jumped down from the rafters, William looking in shock. "The funeral was Thea's and I gave her the stock because I never wanted to set foot in this city again, it took too much already. We were only in Star City because your mom asked to come. But the day we got here Thea went to meet up with Felicity and I was with Oliver and Dig. They were kidnapped and we split up to find them, not having anyone to run the system down here.

Oliver found them, but the damage was already done, Thea was killed by the wannabe green arrow. It was recorded and televised. She took aim at Felicity next, and Oliver shot her on live stream. I stayed long enough to avenge Thea and catch Dante, but I never saw Felicity. I wasn't good company. After that I left and I haven't been back sense."

Mia just stared in shock, William seemed ashamed that he had made Roy come back here. "That's what started the vigilante riots?"

"Vigilante riots?"

"They are what tore the city apart, with the anti-vigilante act removed there were more vigilantes popping up again and watching them kill each other on live television made the people scared . Things got bad. The partnership between the SCPD and team Green Arrow went sour and the department wasn't trusted anymore, people considered Oliver a corrupt cop out for his own justice, they wanted his head on a spike  
When no charges were brought against him and it was considered self defense the city decided vigilantes were the problem. Felicity went straight from the crime scene to ARGUS and I didn't see her for months, not until the next year actually, after the divorce." Dinah strolled in, filling in where Roy had stopped when he stormed out choked up with emotion, looking as angry as when he had Mirakuro pulsing through him.

"Divorce?" Will was so confused.

"Big public announcement that Smoak Technologies would have nothing to do with vigilantes and that her and Oliver had divorced just after the kidnapping." Dinah deadpanned as though none of it mattered as she left to follow Roy.

Will stared at Mia, "our parents were divorced?"

"Yeah, like I said, I'm Felicity Smoak's daughter. Oliver wasn't even there when I was born." She slammed another letter into his hand, "keep reading."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone know how to embed a photo when posting in here? I forget and it's important for the next chapter.


	4. January 2020

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, I couldn't get the picture embedding to work. I entered the 3 pictures as links.
> 
> Also, sorry if this is kore AU than intended, I haven't watched arrow 7×16 yet, I promised myself I would post this first. So yay, now I get to watch it.

As Will opened the next letter several old photographs fall out, he looks at them in awe,

"I thought you said Dad wasn't around?"

"He wasn't. What are you looking at?"

"You I'm guessing"

"Give me those," Mia snarls as she swipes the photos.

"You AND dad, guess he was around afterall. Tell me again how you were so abandoned?

"I've, I've never seen these before," she glances down at the letter and then to her brother, "read it."

>>>>>>>>*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*>>**>**

January 17, 2021

William,

So first of all, if you watched the Smoak Technologies press conference, its not true. I mean, yeah, on paper your dad and I are divorced because all the records in this city are digitized and of course I could sneak that in there like it was filed by a court but- you dont care about that.

We are still together and we love and support eachother. But that's why I had to make that announcement. To keep our family safe. Nobody except you and the Diggles know about Mia. With the way things are escalating here, we cant allow that to change.

Secondly, you probably noticed we stopped exploding your voicemail. You left for a normal life. We agreed because we wanted you to be happy and safe. Since you obviously dont want to talk to us, we aren't going to mess up that happiness anymore. We want to talk to you, and that secure line will remain set up, but for your safety we aren't going to attempt to contact you anymore. You could be a target.

Lastly, the happy part of this letter. When I wrote to you before the holidays I forgot to put the picture in. So here are a few. 

The first one Dig took, so we are all in it. Mia was only like 30 seconds old. I'm not in the others because your Dad is a baby hog. I'll try and take more for you, but right now it isn't safe for people to know Mia is a Queen, please keep these safe.

We love you William 

Felicity

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81759074@N06/46698985814/in/dateposted-public/

Mia is born

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81759074@N06/46698985784/in/dateposted-public/

1 day old

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81759074@N06/46698985784/in/dateposted-public/

Holding Mia

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
By the time he was finished Mia was still clinging to the photos, refusing to let her watery eyes shed a tear.

Will lowered his gaze from the letter to his sister, after an uncomfortable amount of silence (like 2 seconds that felt like a million years to him) he spoke up.  
"Wow, I dont really know what to say. I guess that explains why they didn't get in touch with me after I left Central City."

Mia didn't respond to him, she did speak though, to the photo and under her breath, "you were a baby hog? I always felt like a burden..." She looked up towards Will, "mom had so many pictures of me and her, but none of Oliver. She had us living in this cabin in the woods for the longest time. She never brought me to the city when she came in to help Vigilantes, never when she went to work, she even made all our meals so I never got to leave for that either. All because nobody could know our secret."

Will scoffed and received a death glare from Mia. "Sorry, I get that your pissed and your life sucked, but I think I'm ready to concede that you had it worse than me- you really had to eat Felicitys cooking, all the time?"

Mia smirked, "I learned to cook at a young age.… Mom used to tell me what a good cook he was, I think that made the burnt, well, everything even worse." Will looked a little nostalgic, "at least she could make cookies... when we were in hiding we ate a lot of diner food from where she worked and a LOT of cookies."

Mia looked up to Will for a moment, u willing to address and unpack that last statement just yet, she turned back to the photos and seemed to be stuck in memories, Will reached over to grab another letter.

**Author's Note:**

> Should the letters be posted by themselves or with the reaction from Will/Mia included?


End file.
